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Thousands try their luck at job fair amid weak economy
Thousands of job seekers at a Jakarta job fair on Tuesday were found to have things in common
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Thousands of job seekers at a Jakarta job fair on Tuesday were found to have things in common. They carried resumes in their hands and optimism in their heads, hoping to land jobs amid the difficult economic condition.
“I came here at 9 a.m., but until now [11:20 a.m.], I have yet to enter the building,” said 28-year-old Julius Renaldo, who graduated from the University of 17 Agustus 1945 in Jakarta, majoring in law, in late 2015. “This is the fourth job fair I have visited in 2016. Hopefully, I can finally find a job here.”
Julius realized that the competition was fierce to work in an economic center like Jakarta as he would have to compete with countless other fresh graduates and rural migrants from across the country.
The overall economic condition is also daunting for job seekers. Last year, Indonesia’s economy grew at its slowest rate in six years at 4.79 percent while many companies, especially those in the fields of oil and gas, mining and finance, reported layoffs or down-sizing.
Almost 80,000 people have been laid off since September 2015, according to Manpower Ministry data. Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) claimed that at least 12,000 workers had stopped working as of February this year.
But these figures have yet to discourage people from applying for jobs, even though big industry players have become more selective in their recruiting.
Wa Ode Arni, 27, a job seeker from Kendari, South Sulawesi, is one example. She came to Jakarta three months ago to make a better living. She desired to work as an accountant for a mining company, but was not limiting herself to that.
Meanwhile, some people had a certain target in the job fair as they wanted to pursue their long-awaited dreams. One of them was Dena Fitri Indriani, 22, a fresh graduate from Padjajaran University in Bandung, who wished to become a flight attendant for budget carrier Citilink.
The 2016 Jakarta Job Fair run by Garuda Organizer, which will run until Wednesday, sees almost 5,000 people like Julius, Arni and Dena per day.
At least 63 companies are participating in the event, from media outlets such as RCTI, MNC TV and MRA Group to financial companies likes Bank BJB, HSBC, BNI Life and Bank Mega. Diversified conglomerate Astra International is also participating in the job fair.
However, while interest from job seekers is high, the bad news is that only a few of them will be recruited, employers say.
Low-cost carrier Citilink, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, sees its booth swamped by at least 500 job seekers a day at the job fair, most of whom dream of becoming flight attendants and traveling.
“However, we will only accept dozens of them — the best among the others,” said Gilang Ikrama, Citilink’s marketing communication division officer.
Global TV is no different. The company can collect 500 resumes a day through a job fair, but less than 50 percent will be recruited, said Global TV talent acquisition officer Muhammad Rizki.
“We will only accept people with the right skills and attitude,” he added.
There is also fierce competition between companies in a job fair. Aulia Fadjrina, a human resources development staff member of Senayan City mall in South Jakarta, said that her side often competed with banking companies to recruit new front-liners.
“Fresh graduates often submit their resumes to many companies at once. Hence, when we decide to accept them, sometimes they have already been hired by another company,” she said.
Overall, the country’s workforce in February decreased year-on-year to 120.65 million people from 120.85 million. On the other hand, the total number of unemployed people dropped to 7.02 million people from 7.45 million in the same period. (vps)
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